Harbinger-After
by Lunabeegood
Summary: I just couldn't leave the episode Harbinger alone. I just think they needed a little talk time after they got all hot&bothered. I also needed a better reason for T'Pol's coldness at breakfast the next morning. Please review!


**Author's Note: I just couldn't leave Harbinger alone… Here is my version of the 'after' portion of the episode. All characters belong to Paramount, I make no money from this—I just do it for fun. Please review! Enjoy!**

Trip Tucker lay tangled in her legs and sheets, his breath coming hard and heavy. He had literally just flopped onto the bed next to her moments earlier.

He glanced at T'Pol laying next to him, her legs still partially wrapped around his, her body rolled toward his and a very un-Vulcan like expression across her face. She dropped a floppy hand across her forehead and wiped some sweat off her brow.

"Wow," Trip huffed as he tried to roll toward her but found his body heavy from exertion.

T'Pol shifted her eyes quickly toward him and then looked at the wall behind him.

"Are you…?" Trip asked. "Is everything alright?"

"Yes," T'Pol said softly. "I'm just…"

When she stopped talking he finally got the energy to roll toward her fully.

"Just?" He asked as he tucked a hand around her waist.

"I didn't expect emotions beyond…lust," T'Pol explained.

"And what sort of emotions would those be?" Trip asked as he smirked at her.

"Deep satisfaction. Endearment." T'Pol explained, finally meeting his eyes.

"The satisfaction, I get," Trip smiled at her as he shifted toward her another inch.

"I experienced two orgasms," T'Pol noted.

"I thought so," Trip smirked.

"Do human females usually experience two? In the literature I have read, it is not common."

"No, not very often," Trip admitted. "Sometimes not at all."

"That was in the literature as well," she said, her breathing starting to regulate.

"You liked them?" Trip asked, unsure of how to proceed.

"They were very satisfying, and the method you employed with your tongue for the first orgasm was…unexpected." T'Pol admitted. "There was no…pattern."

"You were looking for a pattern?" Trip chuckled.

"After two minutes I decided it was not logical to continue waiting for a pattern to emerge," T'Pol admitted.

"So then you just enjoyed it?" Trip asked.

"That is correct," T'Pol answered.

Trip leaned forward and kissed her softly.

She looked at him confused.

"And the second one?" Trip asked.

"After the initial discomfort…"

"You were uncomfortable?" Trip asked as he raised himself up onto his elbow to look down at her. "I didn't realize."

"I didn't want to hinder your experience," T'Pol explained.

"Is it internal physiology? Am I…was it my size?" Trip asked.

T'Pol glanced down at his flaccid penis resting against his leg and then back up at him.

"You fall within the range of average penis size," T'Pol said.

"Thanks," Trip said annoyed.

"I'm just trying to explain that size was not an issue," T'Pol explained, confused.

"But it was uncomfortable? I thought that I had prepared…"

"I was sufficiently lubricated," T'Pol said as she shifted toward him slightly. "It was my second hymen that caused the discomfort."

"Second hymen?" Trip asked, surprised. "As in never had sex before hymen?"

"This was my first sexual experience," T'Pol nodded as she wiped a piece of hair from his forehead.

"T'Pol, I didn't…that's sort of something you tell a guy before he…before I…"

"You are aware that Vulcan couples only mate every seven years," T'Pol explained.

"So this was your seven year…?"

"No," T'Pol explained. "I was just trying to explain that sexual relationships, for Vulcans, only occur within a bond, with your partner. And then, only every 7 years."

"So why did we…not that I'm complaining or anything but…"

"I have been attracted to you for quite some time, and tonight seemed like a good opportunity to explore that attraction further," T'Pol explained.

"I'd say we explored it," Trip said as he absently massaged her hip. "I just wish I knew."

"Would it have altered your technique?" T'Pol asked.

"Uh, probably," Trip admitted shyly. "Maybe we would have taken things a little slower…I would have been more gentle."

"Maybe we can do that next time?" T'Pol asked.

"Next time," Trip smiled at her and shimmied even closer. "I like the sound of that."

T'Pol looked at him confused. "It's my understanding that there is a 'recovery time' before a male can engage in further sexual activity."

"There is," Trip said as his head dropped slightly. "I wasn't meaning now."

"Oh," T'Pol replied.

"So there was also endearment?" Trip asked, remembering her earlier comment.

"Yes," T'Pol answered simply.

"Care to expand on that one?" Trip asked smiling at her.

T'Pol didn't reply.

"Look T'Pol," he said softly. "I care a great deal about you and…"

"Archer to T'Pol," the comm unit in her room suddenly sounded.

T'Pol reached across Trip and hit the button. "T'Pol here."

"Our patient isn't so sick anymore," Archer said. "I need you on the bridge."

"I'll be right there," T'Pol said quickly before she launched herself from her bed and ran toward the washroom.

"T'Pol…" Trip called after her.

"You should head to engineering," T'Pol called to him through the closed door. "It may be a target and there's limited staff at this time."

Trip shook his head clear and started to search for his clothes, carefully hanging up her robe on a hook in the process. He found his underwear at the edge of her bed and just got them up before she emerged, fully dressed. No one would know, if they looked at her, that she had just been sweating with him in her bed except for the slight red rash from his stubble on her chest where her uniform opened.

"I have to go," T'Pol said as she walked toward her door.

"I'll see you later," Trip said, thinking it wasn't exactly how he wanted this to end, but knowing he had no choice. He watched her leave and started to look for the rest of his clothes; she was right, he needed to get to engineering.

He located his pants and shirt and was pulling it over his head when he opened her door and walked out into the hallway almost bumping into Amanda Cole in the process.

"Stay back Commander!" She ordered as she pushed past him.

He looked up and down the hallway and didn't see a threat anywhere. When he looked back toward the MACO team he noted that Cole had turned her head to give him an angry look. He knew in that moment, she knew exactly what he'd been doing in T'Pol's quarters.

"Fuck," he swore under his breath.

It's not like he wanted to get involved with Amanda, far from it. What he wanted was privacy and if she opened her mouth and said anything, that was the last thing he and T'Pol would have wanted. He should have checked the hall before he emerged form her quarters.

Trip walked quickly toward engineering and, once there, quickly changed into his spare uniform so he was more appropriately dressed.

T'Pol was right, there was a skeleton crew on shift as was always the case in the middle of the night. He was needed here.

"Archer to engineering!" came over the comm just as a being emerged from inside a wall and came at him.

Trip was so surprised by the entity that he merely raised his fists in a meagre attempt to fight the entity.

He was out cold and on the floor before he even had time to yell for help.

"How many casualties?" T'Pol asked as she walked into Sick Bay.

"Corporal Cole is the last person and I'm just about to release her," Phlox explained. "Eleven patients in total including another minor concussion for Commander Tucker."

"He's recovered?" T'Pol asked as she looked around Sick Bay for him.

"He's returned to engineering to hand out instructions and then he's under strict orders to rest in his cabin," Phlox explained.

"I'll need a full report of all injuries," T'Pol said as she walked with Phlox toward Corporal Cole's bed. She was sitting up and trying not to seem bothered by her swollen lip.

"How are you feeling Corporal?" T'Pol asked.

"Fine, ma'am," she replied as she sat up even straighter.

"Let me just get you a hypospray for the swelling," Phlox said as he left their area.

"You should rest," T'Pol suggested. She was about to turn on her heel to leave when Corporal Cole suddenly spoke up.

"If I'd know you two were involved, I wouldn't have tried anything with him," Amanda said as she watched T'Pol. "He may be a southern gentleman, but I'm also a southern lady and…"

"I'm sorry?" T'Pol asked as she turned to face the MACO.

"I won't say anything, but he should be more careful leaving your quarters," Amanda said nicely.

"Commander Tucker was in my quarters for a neuropressure session," T'Pol said, suddenly feeling very aware of the fact that she could still feel the evidence of their coupling inside of her.

"Whatever you say ma'am," Corporal Cole said with sarcasm.

In that moment T'Pol knew that her lie was not believed and that Corporal Cole knew exactly what she and Trip had been doing in her quarters. If she were human she probably would have felt the need to swear under her breath in that moment, but she was Vulcan so she merely nodded and exited Sick Bay.

As she walked back to the Bridge she decided that something needed to be done before this relationship got out of hand. She'd be able to control her impulses if she just meditated more. Logically, the more times they engaged in sexual relations, the more likely they were to have others talking about them or to be caught in a compromising position. As it was, the Captain had called her while she was laying naked and tangled in bed with Trip. It was inappropriate that she'd even spoken to Captain Archer in such a state. And what if he'd come to her door? No, T'Pol decided, this sexual relationship would only create issues for both of them. She needed to put a stop to it immediately.


End file.
